


Both Many and A-Few

by demizorua



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, M/M, and then i got in too deep, mermaid au, the song gordon sings is "the moss" by cosmo sheldrake btw, this just started as "haha funny mer gordon sing cosmo sheldrake"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25095016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demizorua/pseuds/demizorua
Summary: Legend has it that the moss grows onThe north side of the trees.
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman, Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life), Tommy Coolatta/Darnold
Comments: 16
Kudos: 155





	Both Many and A-Few

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Ocean Isn’t So Scary](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24329575) by [CrackheadMossMan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrackheadMossMan/pseuds/CrackheadMossMan). 



> i don't really know how this happened i just. i was thinking about the sirens reacting to human legends and stuff, and then all of a sudden i was almost 4k words deep into whatever this is. so yeah!
> 
> this takes place after catmint's fic ends! sometime after the final chapter i suppose, i dunno!

Gordon idly fiddled with the shell of a small shrimp, picking at the exoskeleton with his claws. He watched as his school milled about the open cavern, sharing their catches and discussing recent events and new discoveries.

Every so often — possibly weekly, although it was hard to tell time now that they didn't have any clocks or sunlight — the school would get together in a spacious cave for a gathering of some kind, just hanging out and talking about whatever came to mind. Gordon thought it was fairly similar to a potluck — at least, going off of what he knew about them, seeing as he'd never been invited to one during his time on the surface.

For now, Gordon was content to watch his school — his _family,_ the human part of his brain supplied happily — mess around with each other. Benrey was currently tormenting Darnold, responding to Darnold's passionate rambling with his typical confusing nonsense. Gordon rolled his eyes, turning away from his partner with a fond sigh.

Gordon elected to ignore that his tail was still entangled in the oarfish's longer one, yellow and gray scales tangled together.

Turning his attention towards Coomer and Bubby, Gordon was wholly unsurprised to find them engaged in yet another match of underwater wrestling, tails tangled as their human arms grappled with one another. Coomer clearly had the advantage, but Bubby's stubbornness did help him hold his own, at least somewhat.

That left only Tommy, the squid off to the side and watching the school with a distracted look on his face. It reminded Gordon of the squid's father; Tommy's glowing eyes all too familiar to the eel.

The leviathan was likely lurking somewhere nearby, watching over the school from a distance. It had been a good while since Gordon had joined the school and, while the squid was no longer openly hostile towards him, Gordon still had an uncomfortable feeling around the other. He felt safe, but something about the leviathan's wordless lurking made the human-turned-moray a bit uneasy.

"Um, Mr-Mr. Freeman?" Gordon blinked, pupils contracting as he turned towards Tommy. The squid seemed a bit worried, his tentacles wrapping and tangling with each other — a clear and familiar nervous habit.

"Yeah, what's up Tommy?" Gordon popped the now-shelled shrimp in his mouth, suppressing a shudder as his pharyngeal jaws pulled the meat down his throat and directing his attention towards his friend.

"Um, I was — I was wondering if you could — if you could maybe tell us about some… um… some human stories?" Tommy looked hopeful and a bit ashamed, which seemed strange to Gordon. "I-I know that you, um… you tell us about the surface all the time, but, well… Benrey said he, um, he heard you singing something down by the caves that — that was kinda like a story… a-and I was just wondering if you could maybe tell us about it? It’s okay if not, I was — I was just curious."

Gordon blinked a few times, feeling blood rush to his face as Tommy's request sank in. He idly noted that the others had gone quiet, and a quick glance told him that the entire gathering was now focused on the small interaction.

"Uh, I mean…" Gordon's head fins were flattened against the side of his face, anxiety and stage fright nipping at the edges of his consciousness. He should've expected Benrey to tell the others about his singing, but somehow the thought that his school would be curious about the meaning behind the lyrics hadn't fully occurred to him until now.

Ever since he'd been turned, Benrey had been trying to teach Gordon to sing. The eel wouldn't have any type of Voice, since he wasn't a leviathan like his partner, but it was still something Benrey wanted to teach him. Gordon had made plenty of progress — despite Benrey's insistence that singing with words was weird and stupid — but he still wasn't anywhere near being confident in his voice. Certainly not confident enough to sing freely in front of the others.

Gordon loved his school, but he knew them well enough to know that they wouldn't pull any punches when it came to making fun of him.

_Especially_ Bubby.

A comforting pressure slowly began to tighten around the base of Gordon's tail, Benrey's much longer tail wrapping around his partner and squeezing reassuringly. Looking at the oarfish revealed a fond, supportive glance, his striking eyes peeking out from beneath the shadow of his helmet.

While Benrey wasn't the most expressive, Gordon had learned to read the leviathan's expressions over their time together, and the other had put clear effort into expressing care and support for Gordon, which the eel deeply appreciated. His partner was letting him know that he was there for Gordon, and Gordon knew Benrey would stand up for him should he choose to back down.

Benrey was undeniably just as curious as the rest of their school, possibly even moreso, but he was putting Gordon's comfort over his own curiosity.

Sighing, Gordon turned back to Tommy.

"Yeah, okay." Gordon's hesitance was probably clear in his tone, but any regret he might have felt quickly evaporated at Tommy's delighted smile. Before he could say anything else, the other sirens had gathered around Gordon, expressions displaying clear excitement and wonder.

"c'mon feetman, it's storytime brooooooo. time for your — your lameass word songs, fuckin' cringe moments." Chuckling at Benrey's poorly concealed excitement, Gordon squeezed his partner's tail thankfully, hoping he remembered the lyrics to the song in question.

Taking one last look at the sirens watching him intently, Gordon closed his eyes, dropping the discarded shrimp shell and letting it drift off as he took an unneeded breath (old habits die hard, he supposed) and started to sing.

_"Legend has it that the moss grows on_   
_The north side of the trees._   
_Well, legend has it when the rains come down_   
_All the worms come up to breathe._

_Well, legend has it when the sunbeams come_   
_All the plants, they eat them with their leaves._   
_Well, legend has it that the world spins 'round_   
_On an axis of twenty-three degrees."_

As he sang Gordon felt himself loosen up, muscles relaxing as he lost himself in his song. He made sure he kept his eyes closed, not wanting to look at his schoolmates lest he lose his nerve. Gordon was too caught in the moment, too enraptured by his own melancholy song to allow his anxieties to take root. The lyrics touched a nerve deep within his soul, and Gordon felt a bone-deep ache well up in his chest as he sang with reckless abandon.

_"But have you heard the story of the rabbit in the moon?_   
_Or the cow who hopped the planets while straddling a spoon?_   
_Or she, who leapt up mountains, while whistling up a tune_   
_And swapped her songs with swallows while riding on a broom?"_

The moray ran a clawed, webbed hand through his floating, coarse hair, a trail of bubbles drifting from his gills as he continued to sing. Gordon began to sway his tail in time with the silent music playing in his head, nodding his head along to the beat he had carried deep in his heart.

_"Well, we can all learn things, both many and a-few_   
_From that old hunched-up woman who lived inside a shoe;_   
_Or the girl who sang by day and by night she ate tear soup;_   
_Or the man who drank too much and he got the brewers' droop."_

Abruptly dropping his arms to his sides, Gordon snapped his eyes open, making direct eye contact with Benrey. The oarfish was enamoured, eyes wide as he wordlessly watched his partner get lost in this song from a world which he had no reference for.

Gordon felt a playful grin creep onto his face, the spirit of the song bringing out his more carefree side. Hunching his shoulders, Gordon brought one hand to his mouth, miming as if he was whispering the next line to the gathered group of sirens, eyes narrowed teasingly.

_"Come listen, all ye fair maids, to how the moral goes;"_

Only to pull back from his conspiratorial lean, swimming upwards as he gesticulated passionately, voice echoing around the cavern in which they had gathered with an ethereal, haunting aura.

_"No-bo-dy knew and no-bo-dy knows!"_

Still floating above the other sirens, Gordon began swimming around, using the leverage to hopefully convey the mood of the song. He began gesturing along with his singing, playful grin more prevalent than any of his schoolmates had ever seen it. The others' expressions ranged from startled confusion to starry-eyed wonder, all of them watching Gordon perform intently.

_"How the Pobble was robbed of his twice-five toes_   
_Or how the Dong came to own a lu-min-ous nose!_

_Or how the Jumblies went to sea in a sieve that they rowed_   
_And came to shore by the Chan-kl-y Bore where the Bong-trees grow!_   
_Where the Jabberwocky's small green tentacles do flow_   
_And the Quangle Wangle plays in the rain and the snow."_

Gordon was reminded of when he'd sing nursery rhymes to his son back on the surface, harnessing his latent dad energy to hopefully put on a decent show for his friends. As he came around to the second chorus, Gordon began miming along with the lyrics to the best of his ability, using what little he remembered of making shadow puppets as a child to represent the fables and legends the song detailed.

_"But have you heard the story of the rabbit in the moon?_   
_Or the cow who hopped the planets while straddling a spoon?_   
_Or she, who leapt up mountains, while whistling up a tune_   
_And swapped her songs with swallows while riding on a broom?"_

_"Well, we can all learn things, both many and a-few_   
_From that old hunched-up woman who lived inside a shoe;_   
_Or the girl who sang by day and by night she ate tear soup;_   
_Or the man who drank too much and he got the brewers' droop."_

As he came to the bridge of the song, lyrics fading out, Gordon surprised himself by falling into a deep, mellow hum, continuing the song even as the lyrical portion came to a pause. His time spent singing with Benrey had taught him how to sing in a more siren-like way, and Gordon let himself follow the song to the best of his ability, closing his eyes and swaying his entire body along with the instruments ringing in his head.

Gordon could feel his friends' eyes on him, the cavern silent but for the echoes of his song and the gentle swish of water as he rocked back and forth. The instrumental bridge soon came to an end, and Gordon paused, silence permeating the group, before he resumed singing at a slower pace, his voice much quieter and more haunting than it had been before.

_"Legend has it that the moss grows on_   
_The north side of the trees._   
_Well, legend has it when the rains come down_   
_All the worms come up to breathe._

_Well, legend has it when the sunbeams come_   
_All the plants, they eat them with their leaves._   
_Well, legend has it that the world spins 'round_   
_On an axis of twenty-three degrees."_

Eyes still closed, Gordon opted to maintain the slower tempo and lower energy level he'd been singing with, ending the song on a much softer, almost reverent note.

_"But have you heard the story of the rabbit in the moon?_   
_Or the cow who hopped the planets while straddling a spoon?_   
_Or she, who leapt up mountains, while whistling up a tune_   
_And swapped her songs with swallows while riding on a broom?"_

_"Well, we can all learn things, both many and a-few_   
_From that old hunched-up woman who lived inside a shoe;_   
_Or the girl who sang by day and by night she ate tear soup;_   
_Or the man who drank too much and he got the brewers' droop."_

As he sang the last few instrumental chords, Gordon slowly wrapped his arms around himself, tucking his head inwards as the final note of the song faded out, bouncing off the empty walls of the cave and dissipating without consequence.

Exhaling shakily, Gordon opened his eyes, watching the stream of bubbles drift up from his gills and towards the cave's ceiling. He watched them float away for a few moments, before finally turning back to his school, anxiety prickling at the border of his consciousness.

The other sirens were all mesmerized, still staring at Gordon in awe. The intensity was almost a bit off-putting, and Gordon couldn't help chuckling nervously, running a webbed hand through his hair.

"What, ah… what do you guys think?" As if his words had broken some sort of spell — wouldn't that be something, a regular siren with a Voice like a leviathan? — the school instantly erupted into a flurry of movement and sound, crowding even closer around Gordon in their excitement.

"Wonderful job, Gordon!" he heard Coomer say, once the clamour had died down a bit. "Your human legends seem very interesting! Many of those did not even appear to be words!"

"Indeed, it's most intriguing," Darnold added, the octopus having interwoven his tentacles with Tommy's. "Even through all my studies, I have never heard of even half of the things you just sang about, Mr. Freeman."

"I bet he just made them all up." Bubby's sarcastic tone was accompanied by a similarly dismissive flick of his tail, the siren staring at Gordon disbelievingly. "I mean, I know you said that the 'moon' was one of the lights in the Still Oce— in space, but a 'rabbit'? What the fuck is that supposed to be?"

"It's — a rabbit is an animal," Gordon said, "it's like — it's a small rodent. Well, it's not small for a _rodent,_ but — wait, _are_ rabbits rodents?" Gordon had never been one to regret his decisions, but now he was _really_ wishing he'd paid more attention in his Intro to Biology course in college.

Being forced to explain basic biology and animals to a bunch of sea creatures who didn't even know what the sky was until he'd shown up had really put his life in perspective for him.

"wait, bro if it's an animal how is it _in_ the moon?" Benrey asked, cutting off Gordon's internal dilemma. "thought you said the moon was like… a bunch of rocks 'n stuff. how's an animal gonna be _in_ there?"

"No, it's just —"

"A-and… how do you know what's in the moon, Mr. Freeman? Space — space is… r-really far away…"

"There isn't an _actual rabbit_ in the moon, guys, it's a legend — also people have been to the moon, Tommy." Gordon couldn't help but chuckle quietly. He knew it wasn't their fault, there's no way the sirens could have known any of this, but it felt good to have a (metaphorical) leg up on them after being clueless about how to be a siren for so long.

"Wait, you can _go to space?"_ Bubby asked, expression completely starstruck — which was amusing, considering the circumstances.

"Yeah, with rockets — uhh, rockets are like… specialized vehicles for space travel?" Noticing the confused frown on the siren's face, Gordon wracked his brain for a better description. "It's… it's like a submarine, but for space."

Bubby seemed satisfied with that comparison, nodding with a thoughtful look in his eyes — at least, from what could be seen behind the thick glasses. Gordon made a mental note to keep an eye on that.

"Wait," Darnold added, glancing between Gordon and Tommy quizzically, "so there _is_ a rabbit in the moon?"

"No, guys-" Gordon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, "-guys there's no rabbit. It's a fable, about how craters on the moon make a shape that looks kind of like a rabbit."

"Ah," Coomer said, "so you did make them up!"

"I didn't make it up! They're stories — like to teach kids lessons and stuff! The song's about legends and stories and stuff — well, mostly. Some of them are true, I think. Kind of."

"what does it even mean though," Benrey said, picking at the webbing between his fingers. "like, what does worms breathing have to do with anything. or ray-nuh."

"O-Or that stuff about spinning…" said Tommy.

"I was most confused by the carnivorous plants he mentioned," Darnold added, Coomer nodding in agreement. "Especially the ones that had some kind of preference for directional position."

Gordon blinked a few times, attempting to decipher what his partner was even asking him, much less what the others had said. It was a lot to process at once, but he'd gotten kind of used to dealing with a flood of curious siren questions at this point.

"Uh, well, worms — okay so the part about worms was one of the true ones? I think?" Running his hand through his hair again, Gordon frowned, trying to remember what he'd learned about this topic in — god, it was probably _elementary school,_ that was _decades_ ago at this point!

"Okay, so the worms bit. When it _rains_ on the surface — shit, uh, rain is just when water falls from the sky in like, droplets — and when it rains, the worms that live in the ground have to dig their way up to the surface? Because the water collects in the dirt and they can't breathe, I think." Pausing for a second, Gordon closed his eyes, trying to remember how all this worked. "Yeah, I think that's it. What — what were you confused about, Tommy?"

"Um… the part — the part about the world spinning? I never heard anything about that, even when I was near the surface with my dad."

"Right, yeah. Um, you guys remember how I said that we're all on the Earth, which is one of the planets in space?" Tommy nodded hesitantly, which Gordon took as a sign to keep going. "Okay, well the Earth goes around the sun, right? It isn't — it isn't straight up, though? It's on this, like… this invisible line, called an axis. And it spins and rotates around that? And the line — the axis — is tilted at a — at a twenty-three degree angle, which is like," Gordon raised his arms, making something hopefully close to a 23° angle with them, "like this. Sorta."

Tommy nodded slowly, and while he seemed to still be a bit confused he didn't ask anything else. Darnold turned to look at Gordon expectantly, and Gordon could only smile sheepishly, having completely forgotten what the octopus had asked.

"The bit about the carnivorous plants," Darnold explained, thankfully understanding without Gordon saying anything. "I've never heard of kelp eating anything… do — do surface plants do that?"

"Carnivorous…?" _What was he…?_ Oh, wait — OH. "N-no, that's — that's not what that means. It's, uh, photosynthesis… oh shit, plants don't do that down here, do they?"

"why would plants take pictures of stuff?" Benrey asked, with such genuine sincerity that Gordon couldn't stop the sharp burst of laughter he let out.

"No it's — it's not about photos. Photosynthesis is — it's like… well, plants down here do… chemosynthesis, I guess? Where they just — they pull in stuff — chemicals — from the water and then turn it into food, basically. That's why when other fish eat the plants they get energy, just like we get energy when we eat the fish."

"So… plants on the surface eat stuff?"

"No, that was — the song just says that 'cause it's easier. Instead of taking in stuff from the water for energy," _god,_ Gordon hopes he's remembering this correctly, "plants near the surface pull in light. The light comes from the sun, — sun _beams,_ — so the plants pull in the sunbeams and use them as their — as food." Honestly, Gordon wasn't sure that _he_ understood the explanation he just gave, but the sirens seemed to be satisfied with it, so he'd call that a win.

"And — and is that why the moss gr-grows in the north on the surface, Mr. Freeman?" Tommy asked. "To get food from the sun?"

"Uh — I mean, kind of, yeah?" He was pretty sure it was actually the opposite — something about avoiding the sun for moisture — but Gordon didn't feel like explaining the nuances of moss habitats, so he figured that was fine.

"Yeah. The — the rest of the song is just fairy tales and stories you tell kids to scare 'em and teach them things," Gordon added. "Made up monsters and magic events and stuff."

If Gordon was being honest, he didn't remember most of the fables mentioned in the song very well, and explaining the details of 17th century poets to a bunch of deep sea sirens was not something he was interested in trying.

"Fascinating! The stories of the surface are very interesting," Coomer said, tone chipper as always. "Although I must admit I don't quite understand the purpose of some of the lessons."

"What's confusing you, Coomer?" Gordon asked. "Most of them are just the names of monsters and creatures and stuff."

"Yes, but what purpose is there for teaching children not to drink too much?" Gordon snorted, the raw sincerity of the question catching him off guard. "The soda you gave us was delightful!"

"Is it fucking dangerous?" Bubby butted in, swimming straight up to Gordon. "Were you trying to fucking kill us, bastard?"

"N-no, that's — it's not…" Gordon tried, but it was hard enough to just keep from bursting into laughter without speaking, and each word came out mangled by giggles.

"Mr. Freeman wouldn't do that!" Tommy cried, looking offended on Gordon's behalf. "I'm — I'm sure there's some… s-some other reason why drinking too much would be bad for human children!"

"Maybe it's like when I eat — eat too many shrimp," Darnold suggested, "and it hurts to swim for a while?" The others seemed satisfied with this, nodding in agreement, while Gordon finally got his laughter under control.

"what the fuck kind of punishment is that, though," Benrey said, tone monotone as usual. "what even is a 'brewer's droop'? sounds lame."

Gordon wasn't sure whether the sudden spell of lightheadedness was because of all the blood rushing to his face, or the uncontrollable fit of laughter he was immediately plunged into. His school may think him crazy, but there's _no way_ Gordon's going to explain that story to them, even if it kills him.

He probably wouldn't be able to get through it with a straight face, anyhow.

**Author's Note:**

> in case u don't get it, "brewers' droop" is when u drink too much alcohol and get cursed with dick don't work good. i didn't want to explain that to sirens and gordon doesn't want to either.
> 
> i didn't let myself google Anything except the song lyrics for this. all of gordon's possibly incorrect explanations are entirely off the top of my head! because i felt like that was more authentic or something i dunno.
> 
> thanks to the HLVRAI mermaid AU server for having great ideas and talking abt stuff we are all sharing one braincell bro


End file.
